ExplainPaper

ExplainPaper is an AI research-paper reader. Users upload an academic paper, highlight confusing text, and receive a plain-language explanation grounded in the paper. The product also supports paper chat, follow-up questions, section citations, full-paper summaries, paper outlines, key-point extraction, concept relationships, and Zotero library import. ExplainPaper’s homepage says explanations can be adjusted for complexity and delivered in 50+ languages; exact file limits and model behavior should be checked in the product before use.

✨ Key Features

• Paper upload — Bring an academic PDF into the reader for contextual analysis.
• In-context explanations — Highlight a sentence or passage and get a simpler explanation based on the paper.
• Adjustable complexity — Tune an explanation from beginner-oriented to more advanced language.
• Multilingual explanations — Request explanations in 50+ languages according to the official homepage.
• Chat with your paper — Ask questions about the uploaded paper rather than relying only on general web knowledge.
• Section citations — Jump to the relevant section supporting an answer.
• Follow-up questions — Continue exploring a concept within the same paper context.
• Paper summaries — Generate a high-level overview of the whole paper and its findings.
• Structure and key insights — Surface an outline, key points, main arguments, and relationships between concepts.
• Zotero import — Import a Zotero library for a research-reading workflow.
• Free and Pro access — Start with unlimited highlight explanations on Free and use advanced research features on Pro.

💳 Pricing

The official pricing page currently lists:

• Free — US$0/month, available indefinitely; unlimited highlight explanations, follow-up questions, Zotero library import, and basic AI models.
• Pro — US$16/month; the public page advertises a 7-day free trial, advanced AI models, Math Explain for formulas and figures, whole-paper summaries, saved highlights and explanations, and paper questions.
• Teams — Custom pricing; includes everything in Pro, team management, priority support, and volume discounts. Contact ExplainPaper for the commercial terms.

The pricing page offers monthly and yearly billing and advertises a 25% saving for yearly billing. Confirm current limits, taxes, trial eligibility, and feature availability at checkout.

⚖️ Alternatives Compared

🎯 Use Cases

• First-pass paper reading — Clarify jargon and dense sentences while working through a new paper.
• Literature review — Build a quick understanding of a paper’s argument, method, and findings before deeper reading.
• Student study — Turn unfamiliar academic language into explanations matched to the learner’s background.
• Cross-language research — Read or clarify papers with explanations requested in a preferred language.
• Method and results review — Ask targeted questions about a paper’s sections, evidence, or conclusions.
• Research onboarding — Help new lab members understand foundational papers and field-specific terminology.
• Zotero-based workflows — Bring a reference library into a reading process and inspect papers in context.
• Team knowledge sharing — Use saved explanations and paper summaries as discussion starting points.